Halfords sat nav

oldenufftoknowbetter

Hope this is in the right place..

Bought a Garmin sat nav last week in Halfords Bedford store, I'm not from Bedford but was told any problems take it into your local shop.
The thing keeps losing sattelite reception and doesn't always give warning before saying turn right/left now as you are passing the turn.
Took it into local Halfords today to be told it cannot be returned and it's my responsiblity to take it up with Garmin. One of the staff reset the unit for me and now it's even worse and took ages to register and then dropped tracking twice on my wat home approx 5 miles on open roads.

How do I stand on this with Halfords saying "no returns" on sat-nav you have to send it back to the manufacturer? surely it is down to them to supply a working unit. Help plese..
I'm so fed up with it I just want my money back now but they say no.

wobbley

It may sound a daft question, but what car are you using it in? Some cars, especially newish Citroens and Peugeots have a fine metal mesh in the windscreens that causes problems like you describe.
As for not being able to return it if it is faulty - that's rubbish! Your contract is with the retailler not the manufacturer, especially with it being so new

oldenufftoknowbetter

It is in a peugeot not got a heated screen also never had a problem with a Tom Tom I tried.

wobbley

Try holding the unit outside the car, obviously not as you're driving, and see if it locks on the the satellites and better or quicker. I have a Garmin and it does have a facility to show you the signal strength. If you still have trouble I would take it back to Halfords. Don't take any !!!!!! off them - they are responsible, don't let them refer you to Garmin that's their job. As it's only a week old you 'should' get a replacement or a refund depending on YOUR choice.

Astaroth

As long as the item is actually faulty and it isnt just your vehicle blocking the signal.

oldenufftoknowbetter

Rang Consumer direct and was told that if it is faulty then they have to offer either a refund, repair or replacement no matter what. So back I went to Halfords as the unit has now twice displayed "are you inside" on the screen when I am outside..........
Spoke to the store manager and he refused point blank to refund my money qouting that they do not refund on sat nav. He pointed out small print on the counter that states this. So I rang consumer direct from the store and explained the sign to them, was informed that this is not allowed as is an unfair contract term. Manager still refused refund but did offer exchange without going through Garmin which I now do not want. He also said that it didn't matter that trading standards say a refund must be offered as Halfords rules are no refunds.
So now I am waiting for a letter to forward to their head office and CD have forwarded the complaint to trading standards.
According to the store manager he has had trading standards in about this and they went away agreeing with halfords policy.

What made it even worse was that all the time I was talking to him he stood there grinning at me:mad:

So anyone thinking of a sat nav AVOID HALFORDS if you want customer care!

hjb123

We have a Garmin GPS and we cannot get a signal indoors at all and have to go about 100m away from the house before we can get any signal. However we accept that and can still program the device with waypoints and walks.

Have you tried walking around with the Sat Nav to see if it works elsewhere or even in another car?

oldenufftoknowbetter

I understand your point on trying it outside but surely that beats the point of in car navigation.

The unit was sold for use in the car
A halfords employee fitted it into the car
same employee said it will work in this car with no problems.
It has never worked as it should ie. it will work fine for a while and then just drops signal even in open areas.So I guess it's faulty

I understand your point on trying it outside but surely that beats the point of in car navigation.
Also I have tried other sat nav units in my car and they had no problems.

kuohu

Surely this boils down to a sale of goods act issue. The unit does not work for you (whether faulty or not) therefore it is not fit for purpose. The contract (sale) was between yourself and Halfords so all this talk of contacting Garmin seems to just muddy the water. I would take it back and get a full refund.

Astaroth

The FFP isnt a personal question though but a generic one. If you were to buy a manual geared car you couldnt return it as not FFP when you "remember" that you only have a licence for an automatic.

I dont know if the unit has or hasnt but I have seen sat nav systems that warn that they may not function in certain vehicles due to the heated windscreens etc. It would be up to the consumer to research if this applies to them or not or get a seperate agreement from the retailer that it can be returned if it happens not to work with their vehicle - otherwise if they buy it and it doesnt work it is FFP as it is doing exactly what it says.

996ducati

My Mondeo has a heated screen & the sat nav reception is patchy if it is mounted in the centre of the screen.

However,if it is mounted to the right hand side near the door post it works fine.